On the writing front, I’m gearing up for the publication of Partisans, an essay collection that Black Lawrence Press will release in May. I’ll have cover artwork to share soon, but for now, here’s an exceedingly kind blurb from the great Meghan Daum: “I read Partisans in fits of recognition and admiration. It’s a formidable collection by a genuine talent.”

On the rocking front, click HERE to listen to the new songs Watershed released last summer. Click HERE for more information about the Dead Schembechlers’ 2016 Hate Michigan Rally and the release of the band’s new coloring book, “Scarlet Submarine.”

Coming Soon (writing): News about my next book project. Also news about bringing the currently out-of-print Hitless Wonder back into publication.

Coming Soon (rocking): News about a Watershed Xmas show in Columbus and a new Watershed album.

…They may not mean to, but they do.” So writes Philip Larkin in “This Be the Verse.”

In the latest edition of Creative Nonfiction, I moderate a roundtable discussion with Michelle Herman, Heather Kirn Lanier, and Amy Monticello, in which we try to figure out if and how we can write about our kids without messing them up (too much). And as a side issue: Is it ever okay as a writer/parent to share how incredibly cute it was the time your kid ate that grape?

I’m thrilled to have a new essay in the latest issue of River Teeth. The piece is called “Partisans,” and it’s about the time I dragged my wife to the outskirts of Valladolid, Mexico, to the home of a racist Crimson Tide fan, just so I could watch an important Ohio State game (the 2005 matchup with Texas, the first time the two schools had ever met in football). Not one of my proudest moments. Come to River Teeth for my yapping; stay for stunning essays by writers such as Sonya Huber, Jerald Walker, and Rebecca McClanahan.

I’m thrilled to report that my next book, an essay collection calledPartisans,will be published by Black Lawrence Press in May of 2017.The pieces in Partisans areabout choosing-up sides. From a trip through Mexico that my wife and I financed by attending timeshare presentations (“The Low Season”) to a suburban encounter with a soon-to-be murderer (“The Mercy Kill”) to a night watching college football with a racist Crimson Tide fan (“Partisans”), I take on the question of where and why we draw boundaries—both personal and cultural. What’s the border between us and them? How do we decide who’s in, who’s out, and who belongs where? More news and information to come over the next year.

The new issue of Brevity Magazine features an essay in which I argue in support of the wisdom of everybody’s favorite flying nanny, especially as it relates to writing creative nonfiction: Mary Poppins and the Art of Sweetening with Scene. Confused about what Poppins and the craft of creative nonfiction have in common? Click HERE to read my little discourse on the topic.